Young and innovative companies across Europe received as much money for their development last year as never before. Investment in start-ups rose by 11 percent in 2018 to 21.3 billion euros, as the consulting firm EY announced on Tuesday. Despite Brexit most of the money flowed into British startups – followed by German and French start-ups.
Start-ups in the British capital collected 5.0 billion euros
As in the previous year, London was ahead in the city ranking – and by a wide margin. Start-ups in the British capital collected 5.0 billion euros, three percent more than in 2017. Berlin therefore threatens to lose its second place: in Germany’s capital, 2.6 billion euros were invested in young companies, in Paris there were 2.5 billion euros just a little less. The investment in Berlin fell accordingly by twelve percent – in Paris, it increased by 39 percent.
The dynamic development in France is “particularly obvious” said EY partner Peter Lennartz. French policy pursues the clear goal of developing France into the number one startup nation in Europe. Numerous meaningful support measures for young founders, such as the uncomplicated issuing of residence permits, cheap loans from the state, massive tax relief for founders and investors or the development of the Paris-based startup campus, showed how seriously France meant it.
Germany need to pay attention
“If Germany does not pay attention and does not do more for startups than before, our French neighbors will soon overtake us in financing start-ups” warned EY.
The largest financing of the year received, according to ranking of the British luxury online retailer FarFetch – the company collected on its IPO 583 million. In second and third place follow German startups: the used car platform Auto1 (460 million euros) and the apparel startup About You (246 million euros).
Also published on Medium.